Ok so last night I began reinstalling the OS and all of the drivers. I used the CD that came with my motherboard and then the 270.61 from Nvidia's website. I used ALL of Nicks instructions in every single order. It took me about 6 hours total. The first boot up of FSX was pretty bad in terms of visuals and performance. About 10fps at Friday Harbor with the ultralight. So I went to guru3d and installed 280.19 and that seem to make things better. After I set things up in NvidiaInspector the AA and shimmers seemed to have improved but the stuttering remains. I'm locked at 30fps because unlimited seems to be to sporadic at both friday harbor and chicago. I initially thought the stuttering could be a result of the sporadic fps but I also have stuttering when the frames are a steady 40. So bottom line: The smoothness has NOT improved after reinstalling Windows 7 and tuning via Nicks instructions. O&O defrag instruction were a little tough to follow. I didn't have many of the features Nick was using in his instructions but I finally was able to make it work. Hopefully the right way. Unfortunately, just like last time the performance in FSX worsened after using O&O. So I did a defrag using the windows one and it put things back to normal. So I feel the only thing we need to look into here is the stuttering. And I really don't feel like reinstalling FSX again so hopefully it could just be about tweking things from here on out. A couple of things I want to mention so we don't overlook anything here; 1) When booting up my computer, I never did anything with the BIOS. I never "partitioned" the drive. I only started reading about this after. Maybe this is where I'm going worng. 2) My anti-virus program keeps saying my system is "wrong". I have no idea what this means. Other than that my computer seems to be working fine. Everything boots up. It is really fast. All of the ports are working fine. the drivers all installed without problems. So i don't think it has anything to do with how I put the thing together.

Phew! What a troublesome install, I´ve never have this experience, lucky me, and I began with a HP Pavilion - AMD 1.6 Ghz CPU, 9600 GT, 4 Gb 800 Gb Ram, but a fast Samsung Spinpoint HDD, and got acceptable perf. and FPS in the 20-25´s... Ah, the memories! Your main problem is here: "I'm using a Seagate Barracuda Green ST1000DL002 1TB 5900 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Bare Drive. Installed into Program Files (x86) Flight simulator x" You need a performance HDD, min. 7200 RPM, or better yet, an SSD, and the you have to install FSX separately.. Change your antivirus program to ESET NOD 32, or get MS Essentials... Then report back, and we will go from there.

Well if you did a name defrag, space defrag ect. with O&O as outlined by Nick then I am out of ideas. I assume that you are only running FSX SP2 and no addons of any kind. You could turn your anti-virus program completely off and see if that is interferring. Do you have anything running in the backround besides your anti-virus program? Open msconfig and go to the startup tab, what is loaded when you bootup? Any checked boxes is what is loaded and running in the backround all the time. You have a i5 2500K so the only thing left to do that I know of to over come stutters is to OC your rig. If your CM Hyper 212 can handle the heat you should be able to get to 4.5GHz without to much trouble. That will help smooth things out. How bad are the stutters? How hard is it to land due to the stutters? Is it possible that you are expecting to much until you actually OC your rig. Have you added any tweaks of any kind to your fsx.cfg file? If you have added anything besides disable preload and widescreen=true that could be part of your problem.

You think this could be related to my HDD??? Stutters difinitely interfere, even with default aircraft. The only addon I have is the J4100 and hopefully the NGX when I get thsi sorted out. I haven't done any more tweaking then what was stated in the post by nick. I dont play any other games so I have nothing to compare it too.

Well your Seagate 5900 RPM Barracuda Green has a random read time of 12ms.http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=3161f02d54eac210VgnVCM1000001a48090aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f424072516d8c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD&locale=en-US&reqPage=Support#tTabContentSpecifications A Seagate 7200 RPM Barracuda has a random read time of <8.5ms. http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/desktops/barracuda_hard_drives/#tTabContentSpecifications That is a big difference and your HD could be the problem. I would even go so far as to say it probably is the problem, but I would not swear to it, plus there is always the possibility that it is not or is not all of your problem. A WD 600GB Vrap has a read time of 3.6ms. For some reason WD does not list the read times on their website for the Caviar Black. I have read that the Black is fast enough so you can no longer justisfy the cost of a Vrap, but that is just what I have read. Here is a review that shows just how much faster the Vrap is than the Caviar Black.http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_velociraptor_review It just boils down to how much money you want/can spend. I would at the minimum get a Caviar Black. Personally for FSX I would go with the Vrap if you can afford it. One thing that I learned about FSX in 2007 is to get the best hardware you can afford at the time you buy it. Of course there are exceptions, examples: You would not want a dual GPU for FSX since FSX can not make any use at all out of a dual GPU. In this day and age you would not want a 980X or 990X when a 2600K will run FSX just as good and probably better. Of course if you have the money and do not require a lot of GB's get a SSD. The only reason that I do not have FSX on a SSD is due to the amount of addons I have. The cost of 1200GB's worth of SSD storage is more that even I want to spend.

OK I was planning on putting fsx on its own drive in a couple of months anyway. I just wanted to get the basic parts to begin with now but I could probably spring for another drive early if its possible it may be the issue. My question is; if I get a new drive for FSX but keep the one I have now for the OS, would performance still suffer because the OS is on a 5900RPM drive? How's this? http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136794

Hello Drew, I would like to ask, since you didnt not mention it (I am a stickler for details). Have installed your device drivers fully? You mentioned Video and LAN. However, I didn't see you say anything else. I have a laptop and run FSX just fine. So the need to overclock your CPU is not valid, and using the drivers from the CD should not affect a 5 year old DX9 game. Also, what are your addons for FSX. Besides the scenery you mentioned. I have a very universal FSX.cfg file that you can use with your processor and setup. See ***COPY FROM YOUR CFG FILE HERE*** below (Display and Trusted) [bufferPools]RejectThreshold=131072 [GRAPHICS]ALLOW_SHADER_30=1D3D10=0TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024NUM_LIGHTS=8AIRCRAFT_SHADOWS=0AIRCRAFT_REFLECTIONS=1COCKPIT_HIGH_LOD=1LANDING_LIGHTS=1AC_SELF_SHADOW=0EFFECTS_QUALITY=2GROUND_SHADOWS=0TEXTURE_QUALITY=3IMAGE_QUALITY=0See_Self=1Text_Scroll=1HIGHMEMFIX=1SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=1693458435SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=1693458435ForceFullScreenVSync=0SHADER_CACHE_VERSION=3 [sOUND]AmbientUIMusicVolume=-6.000000SOUND_FADER1=0.550000SOUND_FADER2=0.800000SOUND_FADER3=0.950000SOUND_FADER4=0.850000AmbientUIMusic=FSX01PrimaryDevice={DEF00000-9C6D-47ED-AAF1-4DDA8F2B5C03}VoiceDevice={DEF00002-9C6D-47ED-AAF1-4DDA8F2B5C03}SOUND=1SOUND_QUALITY=2SOUND_LOD=1UISound=1AmbientUI=0 [Display]ChangeTime=4.000000TransitionTime=4.000000ActiveWindowTitleTextColor=255,255,255ActiveWindowTitleBackGroundColor=0,28,140,64NonActiveWindowTitleTextColor=255,255,255NonActiveWindowTitleBackGroundColor=24,33,87,64InfoUpperRightTextColor=255,0,0InfoUpperRightBackGroundColor=0,0,0,0InfoLowerLeftTextColor=255,255,255InfoLowerLeftBackGroundColor=255,0,0,128InfoLowerRightTextColor=255,255,255InfoLowerRightBackGroundColor=255,0,0,128InfoBrakesEnable=TrueInfoParkingBrakesEnable=TrueInfoPauseEnable=TrueInfoSlewEnable=TrueInfoStallEnable=TrueInfoOverspeedEnable=TrueBLOOM_EFFECTS=0SKINNED_ANIMATIONS=1TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=40TextureMaxLoad=30UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=0WideViewAspect=False [JOBSCHEDULER]AffinityMask=14 [Main]User Objects=Airplane, HelicopterSimObjectPaths.0=SimObjects\AirplanesSimObjectPaths.1=SimObjects\RotorcraftSimObjectPaths.2=SimObjects\GroundVehiclesSimObjectPaths.3=SimObjects\BoatsSimObjectPaths.4=SimObjects\AnimalsSimObjectPaths.5=SimObjects\MiscHideMenuNormal=0HideMenuFullscreen=1DisablePreload=1SimObjectPaths.6=SimObjects\UT2 AircraftMaximized=1Location=440,190,1480,968,\\.\DISPLAY3ProcSpeed=7156PerfBucket=7 [PANELS]IMAGE_QUALITY=1DEFAULT_VIEW=0QUICKTIPS=0PANEL_OPACITY=100PANEL_MASKING=1PANEL_STRETCHING=1UNITS_OF_MEASURE=0 [Weather]WindshieldPrecipitationEffects=1MinGustTime=10MaxGustTime=500MinGustRampSpeed=1MaxGustRampSpeed=200MinVarTime=5MaxVarTime=50MinVarRampSpeed=10MaxVarRampSpeed=75TurbulenceScale=.500000WeatherServerAddress=fs2k.zone.comWeatherServerPort=80WeatherGraphDataInDialog=0AdjustForMagVarInDialog=1DynamicWeather=2DownloadWindsAloft=0DisableTurbulence=0CLOUD_DRAW_DISTANCE=1DETAILED_CLOUDS=1CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=8THERMAL_VISUALS=0 [DISPLAY.Device.AMD Radeon HD 6500M/5600/5700 Series.0]***COPY FROM YOUR CFG FILE HERE*** [CONTROLS]Controls_Default=StandardControls_Current=StandardKBDAIL=64KBDELEV=64KBDRUD=64JOYSTICKS=1 [TextInfo.1]Latitude=1,1Longitude=1,2Altitude=1,3Heading=1,4AirSpeed=1,5WindDirectionAndSpeed=1,6 [TextInfo.2]FrameRate=1,1LockedFrameRate=1,2GForce=1,3FuelPercentage=1,4 [TextInfo.3]Latitude=1,1Longitude=1,2Altitude=1,3Heading=1,4AirSpeed=1,5WindDirectionAndSpeed=1,6FrameRate=2,1LockedFrameRate=2,2GForce=2,3FuelPercentage=2,4 [slewTextInfo.1]Latitude=1,1Longitude=1,2Altitude=1,3Heading=1,4AirSpeed=1,5 [slewTextInfo.2]FrameRate=1,1LockedFrameRate=1,2 [slewTextInfo.3]Latitude=1,1Longitude=1,2Altitude=1,3Heading=1,4AirSpeed=1,5FrameRate=2,1LockedFrameRate=2,2 [DynamicHeadMovement]LonAccelOnHeadLon=-0.020000LonAccelOnHeadPitch=-0.010000RollAccelOnHeadLat=0.010000YawAccelOnHeadLat=-0.100000RollAccelOnHeadRoll=0.100000MaxHeadAngle=5.000000MaxHeadOffset=0.300000HeadMoveTimeConstant=1.000000[VirtualCopilot]VirtualCopilotActive=0 [uSERINTERFACE]PageID=1SHOW_MISSION_CAPTIONS=0PAUSE_ON_LOST_FOCUS=1PROMPT_ON_EXIT=1SITUATION=FLIGHTS\OTHER\FLTSIMMap_Orientation=2OpenATCOnCreate=0ShowAllACPaintSchemes=1SelectAircraftManufacturer=AllSelectAircraftPublisher=PMDGSelectAircraftType=AllDisplayFuelAsWeight=0 [ATC]ShowATCText=1COMM_MSG_NONE_COLOR=FFFFFFFFCOMM_MSG_ATC_USER_COLOR=FFB6FFB6COMM_MSG_USER_ATC_COLOR=FFFFD21BCOMM_MSG_ATC_AI_COLOR=FF00FF00COMM_MSG_AI_ATC_COLOR=FFFF7840AutoOpenAirTrafficWindow=0UsePilotVoice=1PilotVoice=262144 [PointOfInterestSystem]CycleSetting=0 [sCENERY]LENSFLARE=0DAWN_DUSK_SMOOTHING=1IMAGE_COMPLEXITY=4MAX_ASYNC_BATCHING_JOBS=2SmallPartRejectRadius=4.0 [TrafficManager]AirlineDensity=0GADensity=0FreewayDensity=0ShipsAndFerriesDensity=0LeisureBoatsDensity=0IFROnly=0AIRPORT_SCENERY_DENSITY=3 [TERRAIN]LOD_RADIUS=4.500000MESH_COMPLEXITY=100MESH_RESOLUTION=22TEXTURE_RESOLUTION=29AUTOGEN_DENSITY=3DETAIL_TEXTURE=1WATER_EFFECTS=3SWAP_WAIT_TIMEOUT=2 [AContain]ShowLabels=0ShowUserLabel=0ShowLabelManufacturer=0ShowLabelModel=0ShowLabelTailNumber=0ShowLabelDistance=0ShowLabelAltitude=0ShowLabelAirline=0ShowLabelAirlineAndFlightNumber=0ShowLabelFlightPlan=0ShowLabelContainerId=0ShowLabelAirspeed=0ShowLabelHeading=0LabelDelay=1000LabelColor=FFFF0000 [iNTERNATIONAL]ASLAT=2ASLON=1MEASURE=0 [REALISM]PFactor=1.000000Torque=0.790000GyroEffect=0.790000CrashTolerance=1.000000General=1.000000UnlimitedFuel=FalseTrueAirspeed=FalseAutoCoord=TrueRealMixture=TrueStressDamage=TrueGEffect=TrueManualLights=TrueGyroDrift=FalseCrashWithDyn=FalseCrashDetection=TrueAutoTrim=False [sIM]SYSCLOCK=1 [sTARTUP]DEMO=0SHOW_OPENING_SCREEN=1STARTUP_DEMO=LoadWindow=1 [FACILITIES]COUNTRY=STATE=FloridaCITY=GTL_BUTTON=1244[Misc]Com_Rate=7 [Trusted]***COPY FROM YOUR CFG FILE HERE*** [FlightPlanMap]LineWidth=2SHOW_AIRPORTS=1SHOW_VORS=1SHOW_NDBS=1SHOW_APPROACHES=1SHOW_INTERSECTIONS=1SHOW_VICTOR=0SHOW_JET=0SHOW_AIRSPACE=1SHOW_FLIGHTPLAN=1SHOW_WEATHERSTATIONS=1SHOW_WEATHERSYSTEMS=1SHOW_DATATAGS=1SHOW_TERRAIN=1show_waypoints=1show_airways=1show_markers=1show_volume_boundaries=1show_ac_twr=1 [MAPVIEW_MAP]SHOW_AIRPORTS=1SHOW_VORS=1SHOW_NDBS=1SHOW_APPROACHES=1SHOW_INTERSECTIONS=0SHOW_VICTOR=0SHOW_JET=0SHOW_AIRSPACE=1SHOW_FLIGHTPLAN=1SHOW_WEATHERSTATIONS=1SHOW_WEATHERSYSTEMS=1SHOW_DATATAGS=1SHOW_TERRAIN=1show_flight_history=1[MULTIPLAYER]condAccoutPassword=0VoiceVolume=1.700000

AirVan Thank you for posting. I know you're not supposed to use someone else's CFG but out of frustration I tried it and it seems to help a little. The stutters are still there but less prevalent. I'm having a texture problem too. I'm hoping its not a video card issue.

OK I was planning on putting fsx on its own drive in a couple of months anyway. I just wanted to get the basic parts to begin with now but I could probably spring for another drive early if its possible it may be the issue. My question is; if I get a new drive for FSX but keep the one I have now for the OS, would performance still suffer because the OS is on a 5900RPM drive? How's this? http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16822136794

Yes, that HDD will make a difference! I have the 1 Tb version, combined with a 64 Gb SSD cache, and it performs outstanding... OS on the 5900RPM drive? No, use that drive for storage and put the OS and FSX on the WD Caviar Black - with FSX in a separate folder.

If your main concern is getting FSX to run smoothly I do not think that having your OS on the 5900 RPM drive will affect the way FSX runs if FSX is on a separate HD. You need to understand that having programs on a 5900 RPM drive vs. a 7200 RPM drive will affect their performance, but I doubt that you would notice a difference with programs like Office 2010, Adobe Acrobat, etc. unless you get out a stop watch and start timing how fast programs load. If you play other games that are CPU/graphic intensive then you would probably notice a difference in the FPS, but as long as they run smooth who cares about FPS. If it was me I would put only FSX on the 750GB CB. The 750GB CB is fine and I think a good choice for this type of HD. I will say however that when running FSX you will need to only be running FSX and nothing else. You should not be using the PC to listen to music or using it to do anything else while running FSX.

If your main concern is getting FSX to run smoothly I do not think that having your OS on the 5900 RPM drive will affect the way FSX runs if FSX is on a separate HD. You need to understand that having programs on a 5900 RPM drive vs. a 7200 RPM drive will affect their performance, but I doubt that you would notice a difference with programs like Office 2010, Adobe Acrobat, etc. unless you get out a stop watch and start timing how fast programs load. If you play other games that are CPU/graphic intensive then you would probably notice a difference in the FPS, but as long as they run smooth who cares about FPS. If it was me I would put only FSX on the 750GB CB. The 750GB CB is fine and I think a good choice for this type of HD. I will say however that when running FSX you will need to only be running FSX and nothing else. You should not be using the PC to listen to music or using it to do anything else while running FSX.

Yeah I agree. I make sure I turn off everything in the background before opening FSX including Anti-virus. Its an old habit I picked up from running fs9 on a 1.6 ghz HP that was store bought in 2002. So I don't believe thats my problem. I'm just trying to narrow in on the problem by looking at my hardware and my HDD seems to be the only thing thats lacking the goods. But if its not enough to be causing bad textures and major stutters then maybe its the GPU or the PSU. Is it normal for the 2xPCI connectors to be on the same cord? Thats how my PSU supplies power to the GPU. A single connector for the PSU and it splits into two at the end. I dont know. I will order the CB HDD anyway. I have also commissioned the guy who maintains our static simulator at school to check it out and make sure everything looks ok under the hood.

Yeah I agree. I make sure I turn off everything in the background before opening FSX including Anti-virus. Its an old habit I picked up from running fs9 on a 1.6 ghz HP that was store bought in 2002. So I don't believe thats my problem. I'm just trying to narrow in on the problem by looking at my hardware and my HDD seems to be the only thing thats lacking the goods. But if its not enough to be causing bad textures and major stutters then maybe its the GPU or the PSU. Is it normal for the 2xPCI connectors to be on the same cord? Thats how my PSU supplies power to the GPU. A single connector for the PSU and it splits into two at the end. I dont know. Two connectors off one feed is fine, before you start looking at the GPU see how the new CB HD works. Other people have your GPU and they work fine. How many watts is your PSU and what is the brand and P/N? As long as it is a good 550W PSU it should be okay, 650W+ should be more than enough for your system. I will order the CB HDD anyway. I have also commissioned the guy who maintains our static simulator at school to check it out and make sure everything looks ok under the hood.

Yeah its 730 watts. I'll wait for the new HDD to come in and take it to my guy and let him install it as well as the OS and all the drivers again. I'd rather have someone who knows what they're doing set things up so I can rule out my own possible mistakes. Then we'll go from there. I went ahead and bought the NGX yesterday, I couldn't resist. Hopefully everything will be ready to go next week so I can start to enjoy it. Many thanks for the support I'm getting in these forums. Cheers

Here is my entire build by the way: PSUhttp://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152036 Mobohttp://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128487 Casehttp://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133094 Ramhttp://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231426 GPUhttp://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121424 CPUhttp://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 Hard drivehttp://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148764 Coolinghttp://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

The NGX is tempting, but since I already have the CS MD80 and PMDG MD11 I have held off on the PMDG 737NGX. Right now I just do not feel like spending close to 20 hours in front of my PC learning another plane. I also have the VRS FA18E, I have not even began to see all this one can do. Your machine looks good, hopefully the new HD will take care of the stuttering, let us know how it works out.